How a Factional Struggle May Be Setting Beijing’s Stance on North Korea

Some in the Chinese regime have sought to maintain a close relationship with North Korea to leverage the US and its allies.

A monument dedicated to a Chinese war veteran looking towards North Korea the banks of the Yalu River in Dandong is patially covered in snow on November 27, 2010 in northeast China's Liaoning province, across from North Korean border town of Siniuju which is connected by the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge after a night of snowfall. The United States has sought to reassure China over joint US-South Korean military exercises, with the Pentagon insisting the war games were "not directed" at Beijing with the four-day exercises starting November 28 coming in the wake of North Korea's artillery bombardment of a South Korean island. AFP PHOTO / Frederic J. BROWN Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

News analysis

Ma Xiaohong, a well-presented businesswoman from Liaoning Province in China’s northeast, enjoyed over a decade of success with her export firm, the Hongxiang group, and even dabbled in local politics.

Once lauded as an “outstanding Communist Party member” by the state for becoming an entrepreneur at age 29, stormclouds appeared over Ma’s career in September. Her position as a representative to Liaoning’s legislature was revoked after the authorities found her and hundreds of other delegates guilty of obtaining their seats through illicit means.

Northeast Chinese businesswoman Ma Xiaohong in a pamphlet promoting her company, Hongxiang Industrial Development Co. Ltd. Hongxiang